Construction, quarry, and mining machines, such as shovels, excavators, loaders, stacker/reclaimers and draglines, of all types and configurations, make use of buckets of all types and configurations to dig, move and load materials. The maintenance and replacement costs for the buckets and the machines in general form a large part of the overall cost and profitability of the operation. Therefore, having a large degree of operating time, with the least amount of unplanned maintenance combined with low operating and capital replacement costs are all critical requirements for a successful operation.
Buckets can be subjected to extreme wear and structural stress from the abrasion and impacts experienced during the digging, moving and loading of materials. Therefore, the bucket structures and joints are protected against wear by use of special wear protector systems that come in a variety of forms. The side and adjacent bottom edges of a bucket are typically protected with edge protectors or what are more commonly called “Heel Shrouds” and sometimes “Heel Protectors”, “Corner Protectors” or “Corner Wear Shoes”, that wrap around and protect the structural corner joints of the bucket and are welded in place. Once worn out, the heel shrouds are removed and replaced.
The size and weight of the wear protectors affect the lifespan of the wear protectors. Understandably, the larger the wear protector, the better the structural strength and hence the longer its lifespan. However, the larger the wear protector, the heavier the bucket and the higher digging resistance created by the higher profile too. Typically, the wear protector is manufactured in low cost abrasion resistant cast steels and as a result, the wear protector wears out faster due to both its low hardness and larger profile. As such, more frequent replacements are required and all associated removal, replacements costs and downtime increase the operation costs.
Furthermore, as buckets have different types of joints, e.g. H-type, N-type and T-type, between a bucket base plate and side plates, there are many variations of wear protectors to accommodate each type of joints. Accordingly, there are varying bucket fabrication methods as well. Therefore, it is very difficult to create one type of wear protector to fit all styles. One way of overcoming this variation is to provide a larger than necessary wear protector so as to provide a large clearance at the corner joint area to accommodate the different types of joints. As mentioned, the larger wear protector results in a heavier bucket and higher digging resistance.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to overcome the above disadvantages. Particularly, it would be beneficial for the present invention to be able to achieve better structural strength, fit all types of bucket joints and yet easy to fit and remove.